Structural glass panels being used as a walkable surface is a relatively new and unexplored application. The nature of glass as a building material presents new challenges to architects and structural engineers, and thus requires the development of new systems and concepts to overcome these challenges.
Among the challenges of using structural glass is the difficulty of fastening panels. Many conventional fastening systems cannot be used with structural glass. In addition, one of the sought after features of glass as a building material is its transparency and seamless appearance. Most conventional fasteners will either spoil this seamless appearance or reveal their unsightly nature since the nature of the glass would be to reveal that which is ordinarily concealed by opaque building materials.
Various fastening systems have been proposed and are available for securing a variety of building materials. While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present disclosure as disclosed hereafter.
In the present disclosure, where a document, act or item of knowledge is referred to or discussed, this reference or discussion is not an admission that the document, act or item of knowledge or any combination thereof was at the priority date, publicly available, known to the public, part of common general knowledge or otherwise constitutes prior art under the applicable statutory provisions; or is known to be relevant to an attempt to solve any problem with which the present disclosure is concerned.
While certain aspects of conventional technologies have been discussed to facilitate the present disclosure, no technical aspects are disclaimed and it is contemplated that the claims may encompass one or more of the conventional technical aspects discussed herein.